Together Forever
by CuteMyuu
Summary: Rated for bits and pieces of strong language. I know there are probably gazillions of other fics with this name, but I was running a bit low on originality when I named it. Get off my back about it, please? R/R too, because all you authors out there kn


Okay! This is yet another JAJ fic from yours truly! ^_~ Somewhat short, but I don't think I'd be able to hold your attention like Arti Cuno or Dragoness. Reviews are welcome, and flames will be fed to Growlie. I don't own pokémon or any of its characters in any way... not yet, at least. =D This is a fic to hold you together until 'Wedding Belle' is finished. =P  
  
Together Forever  
  
James fled the estate, fighting down the tears until he knew he was safe. No point in wasting breath while he was running. Jessiebelle's cries were fading behind him, and he slowed to a brisk walk. Why did Jessie have to try to force him into this again? Didn't she remember what happened last time? Maybe she just didn't care.  
James stopped walking altogether in the middle of a bridge. He looked over the side to see the sleeping Magikarp being dragged downstream by the current, and wondered why they weren't going any faster. The water was deep and the current fast: they should have been zipping along like swimming Marill.  
Contemplating the water, he decided it would be as good an idea as any to join the fish. Jessiebelle and his parents only lived to torment him, and Team Rocket didn't hold much of a future for him anyway. The boss was always angry at his team and Meowth just teased, and Jessie ... he liked her a lot, maybe he even loved her. But all she ever gave him were harsh words and smacks from paper fans and mallets.  
He absentmindedly rubbed a welt on the back of his head from when Jessie had hit him when he asked if breakfast would be ready soon. She seemed to like bothering him too, but he always forgave her. She was so beautiful, how could he help it? Her sparkling eyes seemed to be reflecting up at him from the water, teasing him, until a Goldeen moved in its sleep and rippled the image away. He dreamed of her sometimes and even woke up saying her name, but she was always so mean to him. There wasn't a chance that Jessie's feelings even came close to slightly echoing James'.  
Life was worthless, he decided. Completely worthless. Even more worthless than the Magikarp he'd bought that evolved when he kicked it and almost ate him. Life was worse than that fossilized pokémon manure he'd picked up after the thing with Aerodactyl. Life *was* pokémon manure. James prepared to climb the railing and jump into the freezing water.  
"James, did you run away again?" James clambered up onto the railing quickly, not wanting to face the prospect of his partner in crime being any angrier than usual. Out of the shadows stepped an angel, or so it looked to James. Jessie's expression was still hidden, but she sounded surprised. "James, get down! You might hurt yourself if you fall...." Jessie didn't want to think about that, she had grown to like the whiner.  
James sneered. "And then you'd never get the money. Wouldn't that be a pity?" Jessie looked shocked now. "I'm tired of you bullying and teasing me, I'm tired of being yelled at by our boss, I'm tired of Team Rocket and I'm tired of life."  
"No, you can't! I won't let you, James!" Jessie's voice came out strangled and strange, making its way around the growing lump in her throat. Jessie advanced, but James held up his hand and she stopped. She thought about what would happen if James was hurt. He was the first person that she had ever really loved, with that charming smile and startling emerald eyes. In his eyes, there was a small something different when he looked at her. It was like he saw her as differently from anyone else, but Jessie had usually chalked it up to her overactive imagination. She often found herself falling into those handsome eyes, and wishing that she could gaze into them for eternity while being held in his arms.  
She was startled out of her reverie by James' quiet voice. "It's not like you would care, anyway. You only want the money I'm attatched to like a puppet string, and nobody else likes me either." James had mostly been speaking to himself, but now he turned those brilliant orbs on Jessie again. "Why shouldn't I just jump right now?"  
In a very small voice, Jessie replied, "Because, James..." she looked at her boots and could feel the telltale blush creeping up her neck like a line of fire, "I love you."  
As Jessie started to walk closer again, James slowly got down from the railing. Surprisingly enough, he managed to keep a poker face. When he was safely on the ground, he muttered, "I was always afraid of heights anyway." He looked up at Jessie and saw his feelings reflected back at him, and he laughed and swept her up in his arms, laughing. He paused to lean her against the guard at the side of the bridge.  
James had such strong arms! It must have been from all the holes they'd dug, Jessie decided. Oh, it was so good to know he cared too! She laughed in happiness, and James echoed with his tender giggle. He leaned her backwards over the railing and she squealed in mock fright. James leaned over her, coming in for a kiss.  
At the sound of a whip cracking some distance away, James jumped and his head snapped up. He was completely alert for any warning sound that might be Jessiebelle. It was an understandable and conditioned response, but he let go of Jessie. Her shriek of fake fear turned into a cry of "James!" as she overbalanced and tumbled into the icy water.  
James berated himself as he dove in. "Jessie!" That stupid Jessiebelle, ruining everything! He searched in the arctic-cold water for any sign of the red-haired beauty. There, a gloved hand reaching above the surface of the water! James managed to get over there and pull Jessie up. He made his way through the swift current to a large rock, and from there heaved Jessie up on the bank.  
So cold... so cold. Water everywhere, in her eyes, in her mouth. She coughed and spit it out, only to have it fill again with more. Everything swirling, the moon a pale circle laughing from somewhere above the water. Laughing at her. A hand on hers, lifting her up, her head breaking the surface of the water. She gasped for air, felt like passing out. She was laid at the edge of the river, but no longer in it. She could even feel the warmth beginning to come back into her limbs. James' wonderful face dripping water, looking into her eyes with concern. A momentary look of surprise and panic, and he wasn't there anymore. "James!"  
The treacherous current dragged James downstream, tossing his body in the waves. Sharp rocks on the bottom lacerated his clothing, tearing it into pieces. A second at the surface, sucking in precious air. More water, water all around him. Water numbing his feet and hands, lessening the pain from cuts and scrapes.  
Jessie watched in horror as James was swept towards the waterfall. She ordered her legs to get up and run, for sweet God's sake, RUN! They responded too slowly and she lurched to her feet, swaying. She stumbled her way down the path beside the rushing water, tripped on a tree root and took a fall down the steep hill beside the waterfall. She lay sprawled beside a calm pool, groggy and fighting a losing battle with unconsciousness.  
Loud, loud water up ahead. Roaring like a Gyarados in James' ears. Suddenly, briefly, his eyes were above the water and he could see clearly. Oh damn. The waterfall was dragging his unresisting body towards the sharp, jagged rocks below. Through the mist, James could see a rainbow and would have sworn he saw Jessie's smiling face encouraging him to hang on. He held that image in his mind as he was pulled down the falls. Its beauty seemed to make the pain lessen as his spine slammed against a broad rock. It was he picture he was thinking of when his head hit a rock at the bottom of the pool and he slipped into oblivion.  
  
Jessie looked around the blurry landscape. There was forest to one side, and a calm, serene pool on the other. In the pool, floating face up near the shore, was the unconscious body of James. She gasped in horror as she remembered the events leading up to her fall, and silently prayed that it hadn't been long since. She waded into the frigid waist-deep water and pulled James out onto the shore. There was a big gash on the back of his head, and his face had a bluish tinge to it. She tried to get the dusty memories of her health classes together and began using CPR on him. He groaned and water dribbled from his mouth, and he opened his eyes to gaze into the happiest face he'd ever seen.  
"James, you're alive!" Jessie flung her arms around him like an Arbok using Wrap, and she planted a huge kiss on his lips. "Don't ever almost die again, or I'll have to kill you!" They both laughed at the absurdity of the statement, then shared a longer, less surprised kiss. "I love you, you know."  
James leaned up to kiss her again, but the pain in his back stopped him short. "Ohhh, that's some serious pain," he groaned. Jessie looked concerned, and he explained. "I hit my back on a rock on the way down the waterfall, I think I might have done something to my spine."  
"Stay here, I'll get help!" Completely concerned with James' welfare, she ran the 1/2 mile to the closest road and got a driver to pull over and phone the hospital. She then sprinted back to James and refused to leave his side until the paramedics told her that he would be fine, but he would have back pains for a while.  
Once they were alone again, Jessie giggled. "You know, the bandages they wrapped around your head remind me of Victreebel trying to eat your upper half. The bandages look like its lips, and I can just see the rest of it above you." James laughed too, if not because of the silliness then because he was happy and everything would be fine. Everything was working out, and it would all be peachy. Just him and Jessie. Happily ever after.  
  
~Together forever, no matter how long  
From now until the end of time  
We'll be together, you can be sure  
That forever and a day  
That's how long we'll stay  
Together and forever more~  
  
{A.N. 'Together Forever' belongs to Ken Cummings, John Loeffler, and possibly someone else. Point is, it does *not* belong to me, so don't sue. I don't have anything worth taking, anyway. =P}  
  
~CuteMyuu~ 


End file.
